Amid the economic crisis, job prospects are looking slim for many -- and the prospect of acquiring internships is no different. Scraping and scrambling to build their résumés, some students are even going as far paying for unpaid summer internships.
"The market's really tough, and I think that a lot of employers are really hesitant to hire given the economic conditions," sophomore Emily Hanno said.
Even students that were not planning on doing a summer internship are feeling the pressure. "As a freshman, I wasn't expecting to have any pressure to get an internship this summer until some people I know did," freshman Allie Wahrenberger said. "So now I'm thinking about it. I've been looking around at what to do this summer, and it's going to be hard enough to find a job alone, much less an unpaid internship. Most of the deadlines have passed, anyway."
In the current job market, as employment is decreasing and internship applicant numbers are increasing, some are turning to profit-driven internship placement agencies or buying coveted summer internships at charity auctions, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. CharityBuzz.com is one such site on which clients can buy dream internships -- often for thousands of dollars.
Coppy Holzman, the CEO of Charity Buzz, said that the most important aspect of the site is its contribution to charity organizations. "We are proud to work with the top charities on the planet and raise millions for them as well as bring awareness about their worthy goals," he told the Daily in an e-mail. "In particular, in this less than robust economy, the funds that are generated from our auction experiences including interns directly benefit in many cases the underprivileged that most need attention right now."
Jean Papalia, director of Career Services, said that she is not aware of Tufts students buying internships at auctions and could not comment on the issue.
Some students also turn to a program that offers guaranteed internship placement. The University of Dreams, an internship placement agency based out of California, offers access to posts in 11 cities such as New York, Los Angeles and London. The internships last eight weeks and are coupled with housing and organized social events such as trips to the host cities' landmarks. The programs frequently cost over $5,000, and some of the internships listed on the site include jobs at organizations such as Sony, Major League Baseball and DreamWorks.
One organization not in the business of selling internships is The Fund for American Studies (TFAS). The organization, founded in 1967, addresses the need "to teach college students about...limited government and free-market economics," said Patrice Lee (LA '04), TFAS' media relations manager.
TFAS offers programs in the Washington, D.C., area. While in the program, students take classes and earn credit at Georgetown University and intern for 30 hours a week. According to Lee, TFAS has students working everywhere from The Washington Post to various public relations firms. Lee explained that TFAS does not support the concept of putting a price on internships. "Selling an internship is not something we support or believe in," Lee said. "It is something that is done and it does lock people who may not have the sort of resources that they would need to get some of these really stellar internships out of these opportunities."
TFAS does have a tuition fee, but Lee explained that there is a contrast between TFAS and other programs. "There's a difference between paying for an internship and paying for an academic program that offers internships. With our program, you are paying a tuition, but you're paying for your Georgetown credit. It's not that you're paying for a placement service for internships," Lee said.
According to Lee, the number of internships available during the economic crisis varies by employer. "You have some organizations looking more towards interns to help them fill their labor gap, and there are some organizations that are not able to take on as many students as they have before. There are more students looking for much more competitive internships," Lee said.
Papalia recommends that students, in order to improve their chances of getting an internship without forking over thousands of dollars, take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them from Career Services.
"Through our many networking events, panel presentations and the Tufts Alumni Career Network, students can also meet alumni who provide great advice on finding internships in their various fields," Papalia said in an e-mail to the Daily.
Some students are using their personal interests and past experiences to get internships. Thanks to her interest in environmentalism and time doing office work as a volunteer, freshman Paige Colton got an internship with Climatewise, a program that works to make businesses in the Fort Collins, Colo., area more sustainable.
While some advocate that summer internships are absolutely necessary for career advancement, sophomore Eli Cushner believes that they are not necessarily the best fit for everyone. He is foregoing an internship this summer in favor of job shadowing. Although internships can help one "get a foot in the door" of a specific industry, Cushner feels that for his purposes, it is better for him to use this summer to "job shadow a number of industries for a few days to a week spanning across a number of different industries" in order to get a better idea of what he desires in a career.
